Bliss Nove Faith Y.

Polley BSN 1C

Guide questions:

1. What is the medical application of acid fast stain?

The acid-fast stain is a lab test that evaluates if a sample of tissue, blood, or other bodily
material is contaminated with the bacterium that causes tuberculosis (TB) and other ailments.
To distinguish acid fast organisms like mycobacteria, acid fast stains are utilized. Mycolic acids
are abundant in the cell walls of acid-fast bacteria. Nonacid fast bacteria will stain blue/green
with the Kinyoun stain, while acid fast bacteria will stain red.
2. Is a gram stain an adequate substiture for an acid fast stain? Why or why not?
No, because gram stain won't hold the stain due to the mycolic acid lipid. While the gram stain
distinguishes bacteria with various cell walls, the acid-fast stain distinguishes bacteria with
mycolic acid in the cell wall. As a result, another distinction between Gram stain and acid fast
stain exists.
3. Draw, color, label and describe the morphology of the following bacteria after subjected to acid-
fast staining.

a. Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a nonmotile rod-shaped
bacterium that belongs to the Actinomycetes family.
Many nonpathogenic mycobacteria are present in dry and
oily environments and are part of the natural flora of
people. The rods have a length of 2-4 micrometers and a
width of 0.2-0.5 um.

b. Escherichia coli
E. coli is a rod- shaped gram-negative (-ve)
bacterium. It is 1-3 x 0.4-0.7 m in dimension
and has a volume of 0.6 to 0.7 m. It can be
used alone or in pairs. Peritrichous flagella
make it motile. The colony morphology of
Escherichia coli has traditionally been
classified as either rough or smooth. The two
varieties may easily be identified because
the former's colonies are rough, flat, and irregular, whilst the latter's colonies are smooth,
high, and round.

c. Nocardia
Nocardia bacilli are filamentous branching bacilli that
break into rod or coccoid shaped forms. They are gram-
positive, mildly acid-fast, and absolutely aerobic.
Nocardia species are common environmental bacteria
that can cause human and animal opportunistic illnesses.